Sound measuring Instrument

A”, “C” and “Z” Weighted Noise Measurements

• “A”, “C” and “Z” frequency weighted noise measurements offer

conventional ways to measure sound, and we use each of these frequency
weightings for different types of measurements.
• In short, your sound meter responds different to it’s input signal (the noise)
in order to provide us with data in relation to the application measuring for.
• E.g, “A” weighted noise measurements are used whenever humans are
involved, as the sound meter will respond in a similar way to a human ear.
• Using these frequency weightings alone provide a good basis to analyse
your data, but to analyse different sound sources can be difficult without
Octave Bands.
Sound measuring Instrument
• Sound level meter
• Octave band analyser
• Noise dosimeter
• Statistical noise analyser
Sound level meter

• A sound level meter is a measuring

instrument used to assess noise or
sound levels by measuring sound
pressure.
• Often referred to as a sound
pressure level (SPL) meter, decibel
(dB) meter, noise meter or noise
dosimeter, a sound level meter
uses a microphone to capture
sound.
Sound level meter
• A sound level meter (SLM) is an instrument (commonly hand-held) that
is designed to measure sound levels in a standardized way.
• It responds to sound in approximately the same way as the human ear
and gives objective, reproducible measurements of sound pressure
levels.
• A Class 1 sound level meter is often called a 'precision' grade meter and
• Class 2 sound level meter is a 'general grade' meter because of their
difference tolerance levels.
• At lower and upper extremities of the sound frequency range tolerances
are wider, and at higher frequencies, the tolerances are narrower.
Octave band analyser

• Real-time octave band analyzers are special sound level

meters that divide noise into its frequency components.
• Electronic filter circuits are used to divide the sound or
noise into individual frequency bands.
• Octave Bands – What are they and why are they used?
• Octave Bands offer a filtering method of splitting the
audible spectrum into smaller segments called octaves,
allowing you to identify different noise levels across
individual frequencies.
• 1/1 Octave Band Noise Measurements
• 1/1 Octave Band measurements are used when the frequency composition
of a sound field is needed to be determined. Octave analysis is often used
in noise control, hearing protection and sometimes in environmental noise
issues.
• The common octave frequency bands are: — 31Hz, 63Hz, 125Hz, 250Hz,
500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, 4kHz, 8kHz and 16kHz – and their composition is made
up of the Lower Band Limit, Centre Frequency and Upper Band Limit.
• The graph in Fig. 1 below shows an example of a typical octave band
spectrum, where the level at 250Hz is greatest.
• What is octave band in noise measurement?
• An octave band is a one-octave range of frequencies straddling across a center
frequency, which is called the center octave band frequency. A third of an
octave band is called a 1/3 octave band.

Although octave frequency bands (Base 10) are defined and named by their
“Centre Frequency”, the characteristics are quite broad and internationally
standardized. The simple method to calculate the span of each band is a
multiplication of the Centre Frequency:
Calculating the Lower Band Limit: Centre Frequency x 0.707
Calculating the Upper Band Limit: Centre Frequency x 1.412

For example:
2 kHz band is made up of:
Lower Band Limit: 1.41 kHz Centre Frequency: 2 kHz Upper Band Limit: 2.82 kHz
• Fig. 2 displays a screen grab from the dB Air Sound Level Meter in 1/1 Octave view and in
this case you can see the 2 kHz is showing the highest level.
• Having this determination can be valuable when you’re trying to reduce noise levels.

1/3 Octave Band Noise Measurements

• Mainly used in environmental and noise control applications, 1/3 Octave Bands provide a
further in-depth outlook on noise levels across the frequency composition.
• Each 1/1 (single) Octave is further split into three, providing a more detailed view of noise
content.
• Fig. 3 displays a screengrab from the dBAir Sound Level Meter in 1/3 Octave view taking
the same readings as in Fig. 2. As you can see, each 1/1 Octave is broken down into three.
Noise dosimeter
• A noise dosimeter (American English) or noise dosemeter (British
English) is a specialized sound level meter intended specifically to
measure the noise exposure of a person integrated over a period of
time;
• usually to comply with Health and Safety regulations such as the
Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) 29 CFR 1910.95 Occupational
Noise Exposure Standard [1] or EU Directive 2003/10/EC
Noise dosimeters
• Noise dosimeters measure and store sound pressure levels (SPL) and, by
integrating these measurements over time, provide a cumulative noise-
exposure reading for a given period of time, such as an 8-hour workday.
• Dosimeters can function as personal or area noise monitors. In
occupational settings, personal noise dosimeters are often worn on the
body of a worker with the microphone mounted on the middle-top of the
person’s most exposed shoulder.
• Current dosimeters are designed to provide the user with parameters such
as noise dose, time-weighted average, sound exposure level, as well as
peak, maximum, and minimum sound pressure levels.
• Most dosimeters also generate statistical and graphical representations of
the collected data
Occupational settings
• Current dosimeters are designed to provide the user with parameters such as noise dose,
time-weighted average, sound exposure level, as well as peak, maximum, and minimum
sound pressure levels. Most dosimeters also generate statistical and graphical
representations of the collected data.
ANSI S1.25 specifies that dosimeters should at least provide the following parameters:
• Frequency weighting: A-weighting or C-weighting
• Exponential averaging: F (fast); S (slow)
• Criterion level: 90, 85, 84, 80, or V (variable)
• Criterion duration: Hours
• Threshold level: 90, 80, or V (variable)
• Exchange rate: 5, 4, or 3
• A noise or sound dose is the amount of sound a person is exposed to in a day. The dose is
represented by a percentage. A noise dose of 100% means that a person has exceeded the
permissible amount of noise. Any noise exposure after the 100% noise dose may damage
hearing.
Statistical noise Analyzer

• Statistical noise is the random irregularity we find in any real life data.
They have no pattern.
• One minute your readings might be too small. The next they might be
too large. These errors are usually unavoidable and unpredictable.
Quantifying Statistical Noise

Statistical noise generally consists of errors and residuals:

• Errors might include measurement errors and sampling errors; the

differences between the observed values we’ve actually measured and
their ‘true values’.
• While most errors are unavoidable, systematic errors—can usually be
avoided. They creep into your data when you make the same mistake over
and over again.
• For example, let’s say you wanted to know something about the general
health of the population, but only surveyed patients in doctors’ waiting
rooms.
• That systematic error (polling sick people over and over again) will create a
statistic that’s completely off the mark.
Quantifying Statistical Noise

• The residual of observed data is the difference between your

observed value (again, that data point you’ve measured) and the
predicted value; not the ‘true value’ per se but the point in space
your theory tells you the data point should lie on.
• In regression analysis, it’s the distance between your observed data
point and the regression line.
Significance of Noise

• Recognizing and quantifying the amount of statistical noise in a data

set is an important step in analysis; a step which will allow us to see
immediately whether or not data shifts are significant or simply part
of the static.
• Statistical noise is often referenced by margins of error.
• For instance, if polls tell us that candidate B has moved three
percentage points up in public opinion, but the statistical noise (a.k.a.
the margin of error) is 10 percentage points, we know that the
change is not statistically significant.
Statistical noise measured
• Subtract a sample value from the average.
• Square that new value.
• Sum all the squared values.
• Divide the total by the number of samples.
• Take the square root.

• If the noise is small and might contain quantization noise then you are going to be
less accurate with the noise value computed.

• If the mean/average is expected to drift in time then you may choose to use a
rolling average calculation so that a significant emerging offset does not make the
noise value bigger than it actual.
International standards
• The following International standards define sound level meters, PSEM and associated
devices. Most countries' national standards follow these very closely, the exception being
the USA. In many cases the equivalent European standard, agreed by the EU, is designated
for example EN 61672 and the UK national standard then becomes BS. EN 61672.

• IEC 61672 : 2013 "Electroacoustics – sound level meters"

• IEC 61252 : 1993 "Electroacoustics – specifications for personal sound exposure meters"
• IEC 60942 : 2003 "Electroacoustics – sound calibrators"
• IEC 62585 : 2012 "Electroacoustics – Methods to determine corrections to obtain the free-
field response of a sound level meter“

• These International Standards were prepared by IEC technical committee

29:Electroacoustics, in cooperation with the International Organization of Legal Metrology
(OIML).
Sound Transducers
• Audio transducers are devices that convert the energy from audio
signals into mechanical energy. The energy then causes vibrations in
speakers that transform into acoustic waves that are transmitted
through the air.
Sound transducers
• Sound transducers operate according to the electrodynamic, electrostatic
or piezoelectric principle. Depending on the sound intensity, a voltage is
generated.
• This voltage is transformed into 4 - 20 mA normalized signal in the sound
transducers. Sound transducers do not exceed the established legal limit
value.
• There are different limit values for assembly hall or similar. Sound
transducers connected to a control system can be used for instance to close
windows in pubs to avoid disturbing neighbors.
• Besides, sound transducers can be connected to an alarm system to
indicate when the limit value is exceeded protecting the human ear in pubs
and discos.
Binaural head recordings
• In acoustics, the dummy head recording (also known as artificial head, or
Head and Torso Simulator) is a method of recording used to generate
binaural recordings.
• The tracks are then listened to through headphones allowing for the
listener to hear from the dummy’s perspective.
• The dummy head is designed to record multiple sounds at the same time
enabling it to be exceptional at recording music as well as in other
industries where multiple sound sources are involved.
• The dummy head is designed to replicate an average-sized human head
and depending on the manufacturer may have a nose and mouth too.
• Each dummy head is equipped with pinnae and ear canals in which small
microphones are placed, one in each ear.
Acoustic Holography
• Acoustic holography is a method for estimating the sound field near a source by
measuring acoustic parameters away from the source by means of an array of
pressure and/or particle velocity transducers.
• The recording of sound waves in a two-dimensional pattern (the hologram) and
the use of the hologram to reconstruct the entire sound field throughout a three-
dimensional region of space. Acoustical holography is an outgrowth of optical
holography, invented by Dennis Gabor in 1948.
• The wave nature of both light and sound make holography possible. Acoustical
holography involves reconstruction of the sound field that arises due to radiation
of sound at a boundary, such as the vibrating body of a violin, the fuselage of an
aircraft, or the surface of a submarine.
• Both acoustical holography and optical holography rely on the acquisition of an
interferogram, a two-dimensional recording at a single frequency of the phase
and amplitude of an acoustic or electromagnetic field, usually in a plane. Gabor
called this interferogram a hologram.
Acoustic Holography
• From this analysis To visualize noise transmission paths through a vehicle dool panel and
to compare different inserts for transmission loss charecterstics.

• Two distinct forms of acoustical holography exist. In farfield acoustical holography (FAH),
the hologram is recorded far re moved from the source. This form of acoustical
holography is characterized by the fact that the resolution of the reconstruction is limited
to a half-wavelength. This resolution restriction is removed, however, when the
hologram is recorded in the acoustic nearfield, an important characteristic of near-field
acoustical holography (NAH), invented by E. G. Williams and J. D. Maynard in 1980.

• Nearfield acoustical holography (NAH) has been used in the auto motive industry to
study interior noise and tire noise, in musical acoustics to study vibration and radiation of
violin-family instruments, and in the aircraft industry to study interior cabin noise and
fuselage vibrations. Applications are also found in under water acoustics, especially in
studies of vibration, radiation, and scattering from ships and submarines.